This invention is directed toward a device for removing skin from food products and more particularly to a device for removing skin from delicate food products such as fish.
In the meat processing industry it is desirable to remove the skin from meat parts such as fish fillets. Today this is done by using a knife or one of several conveyor fed skinning machines. Removing skin with a knife may cause lacerations or repetitive motion injuries. Also, skinning with a knife typically results in poor yields. Alternatively skinning machines often require feeding fish fillets tail first for good results. This requires turning fish either manually or automatically to accommodate tail first skinning which can result in damage to fish fillets. It is desirable that the fillets be fed head first in some cases to match the rest of the production line. Furthermore, it is desirable to have a machine that can easily or automatically be adjusted to accommodate demands for different skin thicknesses and/or product appearances.
Skinning machines fed with a conveying system normally require some type of opening bite at the skinning mechanism to start the meat product. To do this, most manufacturers take a thicker cut at the start of the skinning action by moving the skinning mechanism out and/or in and/or up and down. The other method used is to rotate the skinning mechanism around the product pulling roller and pinch the leading edge of the product. In all cases a hold-down mechanism is used to keep the product in place, during the skinning. Typical hold-down devices include individual rubber (nitrile) rollers, conveyor belts over the infeed conveyor and skinning mechanism or delrin rollers only over the skinning mechanism. Each of these methods can be disadvantageous. First, they may not provide even pressure over products that have varying shapes front to back or side to side. Second, these devices may cause damage and yield loss due to their aggressive nature. Particularly with fish such as salmon, constant pressure causes gapping or separation of the meat fibers. In fact, once the skinning has begun, holding down on the product is not necessary or desirable in some cases.
Therefore, an objective of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus that can skin meat products such as fish fillets either head first or tail first with minimal skin patches.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a hold-down system that provides sufficient pressure over the varying thicknesses of a single piece of product.
A still further objective of the present invention is to provide linking the skinning mechanism with the hold-down device to reduce adjustments.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide a skinning mechanism and a hold-down device where the hold-down device follows the position of the skinning mechanism as it moves in and out of its opening bite and/or height adjustments.
Another objective of the present invention is to remove all hold down pressure on the food product to ensure that damage to the product via hold down force is eliminated.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to adapt this method to either a dual lane or single lane skinning device.
Also, an objective other the present invention is to be easily and/or automatically adjusted for different skinning thicknesses or product requirements.
Finally, it is an objective of the present invention to use this method to eliminate skinning with a knife and the undesirable impact that knife skinning has on workers.
These and other objectives will be apparent to one of ordinary skill based upon the following written description, drawings and claims.